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NYC’s emergency operators using pen and paper

Elizabeth Dorton Contributor
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Recent emergency response system crashes have left New York City emergency operators recording accidents with a pencil and paper, the New York Post reports.

Previous reports show that employees say they are often forced to work 80-hour weeks and extended shift lengths.

Most recently, issues involving computer system crashes have been on the rise. While emergency operators attempt to assist callers, they are forced to use a pen and paper to keep track of information, then walk across a room to hand the information to another dispatcher before it is finally handed off to the correct person so emergency services can respond.

“Somebody’s dying, and I’m writing on paper,” one operator said, admitting that she wishes they could return to the old computer system, which she says was much faster.

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